Jacqui Munro
Politics

The NSW parliament voted to force the government reveal documents on the Innovation Blueprint startups have been waiting 18 months to see

- February 24, 2025 3 MIN READ

This week marks a year since the NSW government opened consultation on an Innovation Blueprint for the state. That, in turn, was four months after NSW innovation, science and technology minister Anoulack Chanthivong first announced the project in September 2023. The government had pledged to release it by July 2024. But when Startup Daily asked… Read more »

BNPL, Afterpay, Klarna
Business

ASIC is cracking down on buy now pay later fintechs and wants to know what everyone thinks

- February 24, 2025 2 MIN READ

Corporate and and financial services the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is seeking feedback on its new regulatory guidance for the buy now pay later (BNPL) sector New laws offering increased protections for consumer users of BNPL kick in from June 2025, treating BNPL as a credit product. That means BNPL providers will need… Read more »

Other tech

Lessons from New Zealand’s 45-year-old home-grown and forgotten school computer: The Poly-1

- February 19, 2025 3 MIN READ

Some 45 years ago, a team of staff and students at Wellington Polytechnic designed and built a desktop computer with an operating system customised for the needs of New Zealand schools. The Poly-1 was far ahead of international competition, but New Zealand failed to capitalise on the opportunity. At the time, public investment in a… Read more »

Cryptocurrency

Financial crime watchdog AUSTRAC is targeting crypto exchanges after shutting down several in a compliance blitz

- February 17, 2025 2 MIN READ

Australia’s financial system crimes watchdog AUSTRAC took action against 13 remittance and digital currency exchange providers as part of a year-long blitz, and says more than 50 others are “still in its sights”. The anti-money laundering regulator (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre) said it remains concerned about money laundering risks in the digital… Read more »

Business

Quarry mentality: Robyn Denholm’s R&D review releases discussion paper as minister Ed Husic claims Australia is shipping its innovation ideas overseas ‘for free’

- February 13, 2025 3 MIN READ

Australia is “virtually giving [its] world-class science away for free” according to the nation’s industry and science minister, as a panel of experts reviews the country’s struggling Research and Development (R&D) system. The independent review by four industry experts, announced in December and led by Australian-born Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, released a discussion paper on Wednesday as… Read more »

Climate Tech

Battery startup Allegro Energy scores $1.85 million federal grant

- February 13, 2025 2 MIN READ

Battery storage tech startup Allegro Energy has scored a $1.85 million federal government grant to bring its battery technology to mass production. The Newcastle-based startup is one of five early stage tech companies funded under the $400 million Industry Growth Program. Allegro Energy has developed water-based Redox Flow Batteries (RFB) to store renewable energy. The… Read more »

Investible CEO Rod Bristow
People

Former Investible boss Rod Bristow signs on as Breakthrough Victoria’s new CEO

- February 11, 2025 2 MIN READ

The Victorian government’s $2 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria has appointed Rod Bristow as its new chief executive officer. Bristow previously spent four years as CEO of early stage and climate-tech VC Investible, building out its Asian presence, and as well as raising a $32 million climate tech fund a $51.6m 2nd early-stage fund, and a new… Read more »

Politics

Australia’s Rickard report into tech’s ‘digital duty of care’ recommends $50 million fines for failing to act

- February 6, 2025 4 MIN READ

Large social media companies should have to proactively remove harmful content from their platforms, undergo regular “risk assessments” and face hefty fines if they don’t comply, according to an independent review of online safety laws in Australia. The federal government this week released the final report of the review conducted by experienced public servant Delia… Read more »

DeepSeek
AI/Machine Learning

Chinese gen AI app DeepSeek has been banned from Australian government devices

- February 5, 2025 2 MIN READ

DeepSeek, the hedge fund-backed Chinese version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has been prohibited on Australian government-issued systems and devices following a risk assessment by the Department of Home Affairs. Department secretary Stephanie Foster issued a Protective Security Policy Framework direction on Tuesday saying “the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level… Read more »

DeepSeek.
AI/Machine Learning

Chinese AI DeepSeek has big privacy and security problems – here’s what it knows about you

- February 5, 2025 3 MIN READ

The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek has rattled the tech industry with the release of free, cheaply made AI models that compete with the best US products such as ChatGPT. Users are rushing to check out the new chatbot, sending DeepSeek’s AI Assistant to the top of the iPhone and Android app charts in… Read more »

Canberra
Funding

The controversial $940m government deal to back US quantum computer maker PsiQuantum is under review for ‘lessons’

- January 29, 2025 3 MIN READ

An independent review is underway into “lessons learned” from the process enabling a $940 million deal for US firm PsiQuantum to attempt to build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, as well as how potential conflicts of interest were managed, newly tabled documents reveal. The documents, released to the Senate late last year,… Read more »

Dr Aengus Tran and Dimitry Tran.
AI/Machine Learning

The $15bn National Reconstruction Fund takes $32 million stake in AI medical diagnostics startup Harrison.ai

- January 29, 2025 3 MIN READ

A Sydney startup pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to analyse medical scans to rapidly identify potential diseases such as cancer, even before clinicians spot them, has taken on $32 million from the federal government’s signature National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) as part of a planned $100 million+ Series C. Harrison.ai has trained generative AI… Read more »

Claire Chandler
People

Opposition leader Peter Dutton names Claire Chandler as digital economy and science shadow minister

- January 28, 2025 2 MIN READ

A Tasmanian senator best known for her campaign to ban transgender people from women’s sport has been named by Opposition leader Peter Dutton as the Coalition’s spokesperson for government services, the digital economy, science and the arts. Senator Claire Chandler will be shadow minister stalking current science and industry minister Ed Husic in the forthcoming… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Like a fast car without seatbelts: why America’s $800 billion AI project, Stargate, is high risk

- January 23, 2025 3 MIN READ

In one of his first moves as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump announced a new US$500 billion project called Stargate to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US. The project is a partnership between three large tech companies – OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. Trump called it “the largest… Read more »